Tutor Knows Best
by Acid-Rain2912
Summary: After a disastrous Transfiguration class, Lily grows closer to a certain messy-haired Transfiguration expert. Somewhat fluffy Seventh year story.
1. Doves and Doctors

Lily looked wearily at the quill in front of her on the desk. She bloody _hated _Transfiguration. She could still remember the flabbergasted look she had on her face when Professor McGonagall had told her she would be turning a matchstick into a needle six years ago. Now she was at the Newt level, one foot practically out Hogwart's front door, and she was no less appalled. An inanimate object into a living, breathing animal? Her writing utensil into an elegant, idyllic dove? The feather, she would admit, was a common element to the before and after, but it was still an immense undertaking, to say the least.

She tried to follow Professor McGonagall's instructions, writing down anything palpable she could hold onto, but Lily knew it was a hopeless pursuit. Why should she be stressing about the finer details of the beak or its ability to sing when she knew she would be lucky to get a pair of wings? She cast her quill a disapproving glare, silently cursing herself for buying black ones. 'They're poetic and different,' she had said at the store. Now she was just saddled with an extra step to worry about and the likelihood of a creepy, dark bird.

The professor instructed that it was time to attempt the spell, and Lily was reluctant to undergo the usual embarrassment that the practical period promised. She stared ominously at her wand, wondering in what way it would betray her today. Maybe it was possible Ollivander had made a mistake with hers? It was short and swishy, supposedly indicating that she had a smaller personality and was easily able to adapt and change. Although she'd seldom admit it, she knew that she had quite the tendency to be vivacious and stubborn, so it certainly seemed like a horrible match.

"You okay there, Lily?" a voice asked to her left.

"'Lo, Remus," she replied softly. She didn't look up from her wand.

She could see him shift uncomfortably out of the corner of her eye. "Any particular reason you look like you're plotting your wand's death?" he questioned with an awkward chuckle.

"Just wondering what display of treachery and misplaced priorities it's going to show shortly." She finally met his eyes. "Ever think that maybe they got it wrong?" He gave her a confused look in response. "The wands," she elaborated. "I was eleven. I had just found out about magic the week prior. How on earth would Ollivander know enough to match me for the rest of my life?"

"Wand chooses the wizard, Lily," he said, before wandering back to his mates. She could tell he thought she was a little crazy.

Lily took a deep breath, briefly thinking of all the places she'd rather be than exactly where she was, before picking up the wand. It was a piece of wood designed to do her bidding, and she decided to really see what it could do for her. After all, maybe the problem all these years was that she was too afraid of failing to really go for it.

_Alright… _she thought to herself, holding her notes up next to her quill. _Now, what did McGonagall say the incantation was? Right… 'Columbantina!' Or, actually, maybe it was more of a 'Columbantiano!' That sounds better…. Now a little circle here, to multiply the feathers… increase the size… Swing to the side to elongate the beak… Upwards flick, for the gift of flight, Counter-clockwise twirl, for the gift of song…. 'Columbinaceus!' for… actually, she didn't say. I guess the je ne sais quoi? And… a final swish for the eyes! Done! _

Lily placed her wand back on the table and watched as her quill transformed before her eyes. First, the pen sprouted legs and a head, then slowly a feathered torso. But then it grew to roughly half a metre in height and gained wings that were both bony and possessing claws. Its beak was about the size of Lily's fist, and it promptly started squawking like a dying raccoon as soon as it could use it. When all was said and done, it looked like a gigantic parrot with the wings of a bat, legs of an ostrich, and mouth of a horror story. And she hadn't even remembered to turn the monstrosity white.

The avian creature quickly absorbed the world with its violently red eyes and took no time in hopping off the desk and unevenly flying around the classroom. Alice's dove, which had previously been perched on her finger, chirping happily, was soon found dead and bloody in the monster's mouth, which triumphantly returned to its maker to show off its catch. However, when the contents of its beak proved to be nothing more than a frayed quill, the beast turned out to have quite the temper, which it rapidly directed toward the nearest person – the one with the convenient, flaming red hair.

Lily lunged backward as the freak of nature struck out blindly. It continued to claw at her, and with somewhat of a cry (but in actuality, more like a shriek), she fell to the ground. She had a precious moment to recover before the mutant bird descended on her face, and when it did, it was everywhere. She tried not to draw too much attention upon herself, but it was scratching, clawing, and biting, and the pain was searing.

Then, as suddenly as the whole mess had started, it was over. Lily cautiously opened her eyes in time to see her 'poetic' and 'different' black quill floating slowly down to her face. She slowly sat up to see the face of her saviour and should not have been surprised that it was none other than James Potter. "Alright there, Evans?" he asked with an arrogant grin plastered to his face. It was cocky, ugly, and humiliating. She ignored the hand he offered her and stood the rest of the way up on her own. Brushing herself off, she replied, "just a little frazzled." She could feel blood dripping down the side of her face; she hoped he couldn't see it. Professor McGonagall was over at their sides before anything else could be said.

"My word, Miss Evans! Never in all my years have I ever seen a student produce such a creature! Thank goodness Mr. Potter was able to save the day!" It took a good deal of restraint for Lily not to glare at the lady. A student had almost died on her watch and she sounded like she was a paid actor for the James Potter show. With great pain, she turned to face James: "Yes, thank you Potter. I really appreciate it."

McGonagall turned to talk to some more with James, and Lily, not wanting to hear him praised anymore, made her way back to her desk instead. Class was nearing an end, so she decided to pack up her things. When she was finished, she felt a little queasy and decided to sit down, only to suffer through countless jibes from the Slytherins. After a few minutes of hearing all about how mudbloods can't do magic, McGonagall finally came by, which effectively silenced them.

"Miss Evans," she greeted. "Would you mind having a word with me up front?" Lily nodded meekly, and followed the teacher to her desk. "Lily, I know you're a very diligent and conscientious student," she started sympathetically, "and I'm very sorry that Transfiguration isn't something that comes easily to you. I know you work very hard, and I've tried to mark you mostly on your written work because of this, but you're going into your Newts and I can't continue this in good conscience. Your spellwork needs to improve."

Lily was sure her face looked red and mortified. "I know, professor, and I try, I really do. I'm just not sure what else I can do – I don't seem to be much of a transfigurer."

"I know, dear, you clearly need help. That's why I've decided to set you up with a tutor." McGonagall gave her a pleasant smile, as if she had called in some huge favour for her.

"Oh, uh, Professor," she stammered. "Are you really sure that's the best course of action?" She couldn't think of a more unpleasant activity, nor of a more humiliating experience.

"Oh yes, Lily, you really need hands-on help."

"But isn't there any chance you could be the one to help, professor?" Lily would usually rather die than disagree with a teacher or solicit one for help – now she was doing both. McGonagall's smile faltered for a moment, and Lily thought it very likely that the teacher was considering reprimanding her for her audacity. Backpedalling, she added "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, Professor McGonagall, it's just that having a good handle on Transfiguration yourself is a completely different thing from knowing it well enough to teach someone else. This year is really important, and I want to learn from the best."

Her smile returned. "I can't play favourites with students I happen to like, Lily, so that isn't an option. I wouldn't worry, though, I think this will really work." Lily was about to raise more objections, but McGonagall chose that moment to notice she was hurt. "My word, Lily, you're bleeding! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Lily wiped away some of the blood with her hand. "It's nothing, don't worry about it," she informed her with a little smile. She did feel pretty weak, but she was sure she could make it to charms just fine.

"Nonsense! A student was hurt in my class by an unknown animal. It could be poisonous for all we know! You'll have to go get taken care of." The woman looked down right maternal.

"Really, professor, I feel fine. I'd much rather go to charms." She was swaying a little on her feet.

"No, I won't hear any of that. In fact, you look pale and quite unwell. Potter!" she called out.

"Potter?" Lily questioned with a sense of dread.

"Yes, James," she said warmly when he was at her desk. "Would you please escort Miss Evans to the hospital room and see to it that she gets that cut attended to?"

"Of course, professor!" he responded brightly. He wore a grin that looked both proud and mischievous, and Lily didn't like it one bit. When she didn't start moving, James pulled her toward the door, and she followed with a resigned pout. They walked the first few minutes in silence.

"You really don't have to take me, you know," she told him. "I'm fine, so you should go to charms." She felt more than a little embarrassed at the whole ordeal, as well as a touch guilty for intruding on his day.

"You know the blood is actually starting to stain your uniform, right?"

"What?" she yelped, padding around the collar of her robes. True to form, her hands came back red and sticky. "Where is it even coming from?"

"There's a large gash behind your ear," James informed her matter-of-factly. "Your monster also ripped out a piece of your hair and your scalp is bleeding."

Lily stopped dead in her tracks. "What?" she questioned. "No," she insisted. "There's no way." She reached a tentative hand up to her head and anxiously groped around. She hissed wildly when she found the missing patch. It stung like nobody's business.

Tears formed in her eyes, which she desperately tried to blink back. She had withstood the mortification of everyone witnessing her Transfiguration disaster. She had remained stoic through all her classmates' insults and affronts, and she had even accepted the fact that she would soon be peer tutored. But her _hair? _Her vision started going black and she wobbled as she tried to keep upright.

In a blink of the eye, she was tottering over to the side, but James quickly ran over and steadied her. "Hey, don't worry," he soothed. He was rubbing circles into her shoulder with the arm he had around her. "It's not a very big piece, I'm sure no one will notice. You can… wear your hair in bangs? That might hide it," he suggested. He brought his spare hand up to wipe away the tears that had escaped her eyes.

Lily let out a small sob and opened her mouth to disagree, to explain how this piece of hair really _was _the end of the world, but she just couldn't bring herself to be that silly. Now also crying at the embarrassment of having a break down in front of the boy she had sworn to hate, she wept a little more. She would later reflect on this moment and marvel at how hard it is for one to stop bawling once the floodgates have opened.

James looked around uncomfortably, wondering to himself if birds were all this emotional. He had hoped that her tears would have ceased after a minute, but when they actually began to intensify, he pulled her head to his shoulder and patted it, careful to avoid the damaged scalp. A few shushes and comforting murmurs later, he decided that it was time to get going and that he should leave her in healer McMillan's capable hands. James told her as much, but she made no move to stop leaning on him, so he started walking her in the direction of the wing. "Err, Lily?" he asked cautiously, after a little while, "have you ever considered just, you know, not taking Transfiguration?" Her crying picked up. "I don't mean to be rude," he continued quickly, "it's just that it seems to be causing you a lot of distress. I mean, why put yourself through all the trouble?"

"Well, well what if I want to be an auror?" she blubbered.

"You want to be an auror?" he asked, concerned.

"Well, no, not really," she said with a frown, accurately predicting where the conversation would head.

"Good," he concluded, relieved.

"Good?" she questioned.

"Of course," he replied easily, "being an auror is dangerous."

"Dangerous? Do you say that because I'm a woman?" Her tears were still wet on her face; she hadn't wasted one minute in turning from anguish to vexation.

"Nope," he answered. "I say that because you're rubbish at Transfiguration." They had reached the hospital wing, and he gave her a pat on the back as he opened the door and helped her inside.

Once she was settled on a bed, she looked up and met his eyes. "You want to be an auror, though, right? It's somehow okay for you to go and be dangerous?"

"Of course! I'm a transfiguration God, not to mention strong and heroic." With a flirtatious wink, he was off to find Healer McMillan. Lily casually eyed the hospital room, which was empty save for one sleeping first year, wondering how some boys managed to conduct themselves with such confidence. She wistfully thought about how nice it would be if she could actually take their suggestions at face value, rather than have the knowledge that all men were serial flirts.

"Now, what have we here?" Lily looked up to see a man in his early seventies. He was wearing a healer's uniform that was bleached, ironed, and spotless (or, well, the magical equivalents), and he had a very firm stance with a perfectly straight back and rigid jaw. He took is job very seriously.

"Just a small cut," she answered plainly. With any luck, he would slap on a bandage and send her on her way. James, apparently, had other ideas.

"It's an unknown magical creature attack," he corrected. He smirked at her when the healer wasn't looking.

"An unknown magical creature? It could be poisonous! Its claws could be cursed! Here, lie down, miss." Within moments, she was being forced to drink a plethora of potions as the healer muttered countless spells and gathered more than a few ointments. In all the hustle and bustle, James slipped out before Lily could so much as level him with a death glare. Lily lay down as the she started to feel the effects of the sleeping drought she had been made to drink, and replayed the events of the day. She was incredibly relieved to think that, now James had left, they could return to things as normal. She was a little ashamed that she had let him see her when she was so vulnerable, and she was sure he would blab about the whole thing to his friends, but they were a tight, closed circle, so it probably wouldn't go much further. As her eyes drifted shut, Lily idly wondered who McGonagall had chosen to be her tutor. If she were a betting woman, she would have put her money on Benjy Fenwick. He was a reliable, model student, and she even had heard him bragging that he was top in their year last June. _Yes_, she concluded, as sleep took her, _I can live with Fenwick as a tutor._

_ o__ooooooooo_

James had a lot going through his mind as he knocked on the door to Charms class. It swung open and he walked inside. "Ah, Mr. Potter. The reason for you tardiness?" Professor Flitwick inquired.

"McGonagall asked me to take Evans to the hospital wing," he said casually. Were it any other teacher, he would have added a 'Professor' and 'Miss' to that sentence, but he wasn't particularly worried with Flitwick.

"Oh, right, of course," the professor mumbled, turning back to the board. "Please take your seat."

"Mate, you okay?" Sirius whispered as James sat down beside him. "You've got blood on you."

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he muttered. "It's Lily's. She lost a piece of hair."

James didn't turn his head when he heard voices the row behind him. "You hear that, Avery?" the voice inquired. "Potter's come to class covered in dirty blood. It'd be tragic, seeing a pureblood in this state, if it didn't mean that the mudblood had lost it."

James didn't respond, even though he identified the voice as belonging to Mulciber. "Yeah," Avery agreed. "I heard she lost her mudblood red hair, too. It's a good day for the real wizards."

James didn't say a word, even though that was clearly what they wanted. He didn't tell the teacher or even so much as send them a warning glance. But when he would visit Lily at the hospital wing that evening, he would note that there were two additional patients.

_ oooooooooo_

Before James even had a chance to shut the door behind him, Healer McMillan was before him. "There's no time for visitors tonight," he said sternly. "I'm trying to help two physical traumas and, as you can see, your friend is asleep. So please leave."

"She's asleep?" he asked, ignoring the healer's requests. "Is everything okay? She's not really hurt, is she?"

"We know nothing about the animal – I'm just taking precautions," he answered moodily. The one thing he hated above all else was people questioning his professional judgement.

"Ah, alright then. Actually, this is great," James told the man.

"Great?"

"Yeah, that she's asleep – I want to talk to you about something."

"Go on," the healer drawled. He doubted he was going to enjoy this conversation.

"Well, it's just her hair. You know the thing took a piece. Do you know any spell that could give it back to her?"

"No," the man insisted. His eyes flared with anger.

"No?" James questioned, surprised. "You don't know of anything?"

"No, I won't do anything."

"What? Why not?" James was amazed at the seeming display of selfishness.

"Why not?" His voice was rising. "I'll tell you why not! This isn't some place for you ungrateful teenagers to come and hang out and vent. I won't fix your friend's hair because I'm a healer, not a hair dresser, and this is a hospital wing, not a beautician's salon!"

James, taken aback, raised his hands in defeat. "Okay, alright, I get it." He started to move toward Lily's bed, but Healer McMillan stood in his way.

"No, you can't see her. I already asked you to leave."

"I just want to give Lily her Charms homework," he argued. "I won't even wake her up if you want her to sleep."

"No," the man deadpanned. "You can get out or I can have the headmaster come and take you out," the healer threatened. However, just then, both men were surprised to here a voice from the other side of the room.

"Potter?" she questioned. James gestured in her direction, and with a pained sigh, the healer started to walk away. "You have five minutes," he warned.

Sitting down next to her bed, James flashed Lily a big smile. "How you feeling?" he asked.

"Groggy, hypotensive, out of sorts. You wouldn't happen to know how Avery and Mulciber ended up in here, would you?"

"Oh, Lilypad, I'm quite certain they'd never tell me. After all, I'm sure they're very embarrassed at being physically bested so easily." He gave her a wink.

"Oh, of course," she murmured absentmindedly. She felt like there was another question she was supposed to ask, but it wasn't coming to mind. Then she remembered a bit of the conversation that had woken her up. "You said you brought Charms homework?"

James chuckled a little at how hopeful she sounded. "I lied," he said simply.

Her brow furrowed for a moment. "Then why are you here?" she wondered out loud.

"Because I wanted to see you. See how you were doing." Healer McMillan started hovering near the bed, giving James a frustrated look and gesture telling him to hurry it along.

"To see me?" she questioned. "You're not making a habit of this are you?"

"A habit?" James questioned. McMillan cleared his throat loudly at the bed next to Lily's.

"Well, you know, this morning… and uh, now…" she explained weakly. She flushed a little.

"Oh, of course," James condescended. Growing tired of McMillan's hinting, he decided to depart for the night. "Well, I should hope that I am forming a habit," he told her, standing up.

"What, why?" Lily asked anxiously. She wondered if he had gone off his rocker.

James was already halfway to the door. Turning around briefly, he answered with a cunning smile, "Because I'm your new Transfiguration tutor, Evans."


	2. Tears and Tutoring

Lily was sitting up in her hospital bed, feeling very sorry for herself. She had missed three days of class, which was a three days' advantage every student now had over her. She was missing a piece of hair and now she was about to take James Potter's advice.

There was a vanity perched on her bedside table that she was using to truly assess the damage done to her hair. She'd tried a few different techniques throughout the day and had come to the conclusion that the asymmetry was too severe to pull any of them off. Holding up a similarly sized piece of hair from approximately the same location on the left side of her head, she sighed regretfully as she cut it as close to the scalp as possible. The bright red wisp floated elegantly down to her bed, contrasting sharply with the stainless, white sheets. Lily then set about trying to make some awkward, unusually deep bangs out of the remaining hair. The scissors snipped quietly, neatly, as more hair joined the initial piece. Lily had only ever cut her hair a handful of times, usually driven by excessive heat or opinionated mothers, and it made her very sad to be doing so now.

When she was finished, she sat back and examined the new style from every possible angle. She concluded that it was poorly done, messy, and unflattering, but not half as unsightly as showing the world her damaged, unsightly scalp, as she had been doing now for three days. Sighing once more, she lay back on her bed. She didn't get rid of the hair.

_oooooooooo_

When Lily was finally out of the hospital, everything felt different. She was out of the loop on her friends' latest inside jokes, her hair was completely unfamiliar and kept falling in front of her eyes, and the castle just felt different after lying in bed for half a week. The smell was familiar, yet completely new, the floors seemed harder, and the draft felt more severe. Everything was eerily off, and she set out about trying to fix the one that was undoubtedly causing her the most unrest.

"Miss Evans, I'm surprised in you!" McGonagall exclaimed, once Lily was finished her spiel. "I always thought that you were very committed to your studies and took your education very seriously, but it appears that I was wrong. Not only am I startled by your willingness to throw away a perfect chance at finally getting a good handle on Transfiguration, I'm offended by the fact that you have the audacity to completely disregard the favours I pulled to secure this for you." Lily slouched down, trying her best to shrink away. The unpleasantness of another's utter disappointment in her was not something she felt often.

McGonagall took a deep breath, steadying herself and putting her anger at bay. "Now," she said calmly, "Mr. Potter is a good, kind boy. He's excellent at Transfiguration and has agreed, at my personal request, to assist you with the subject. I know that you two may have had your differences in the past, but I beg you, in this politically trying time, to put these aside for the good of your future." Lily nodded, somewhat submissively. "Christmas is in a little over two months, and I expect you to give the arrangement until then before deciding to stop the tutoring. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes mam," Lily answered quietly.

"Good. Then, you will meet with Mr. Potter tomorrow night, as planned, and I will see you in class next week."

"Thank you, Professor," Lily said, largely out of habit, before making her way out of the classroom. She only made it a few steps before stopping and sinking down onto the floor. She examined the painting across from her – it was of a middle-aged woman with a tray of chocolate chip cookies. She looked very maternal.

"Something troubling you, deary?" the lady asked. Watching the worry lines appear on the woman's face as she furrowed her brow made Lily feel very homesick.

"Oh, you know," she said vaguely, blinking back a slightly embarrassing set of tears, "a bit of this and that."

"Oh, sweetie, you look very sad." The woman was frowning slightly.

"I am very sad," Lily replied with a sniffle.

"Aww, dear girl, don't cry," she soothed. "Would you like a cookie?" she offered, holding up her tray.

And just like that, Lily was in tears. "I'd love one," she explained, with a wobbly voice, "but I can't, because you're just a painting." Her face was growing very damp very quickly.

The woman looked very put out. "Now listen here, young lady, there is no reason to talk like that," she scolded.

"I don't want to talk like that," Lily sobbed. "Maybe I'm – I'm just n-not the person I thought I was." Lily was upset about so many things, she couldn't even pinpoint the one that responsible for the breakdown. A prominent cause was the fact that she seemed to, of late, have neither control over her emotions nor any ability to resist the constant temptation that was crying.

"You cry a lot," a voice observed overhead. Lily recognized it as James's and looked up, wiping her eyes. The lady in the artwork retreated back into her kitchen, probably to make a fresh batch of cookies.

"What? No, I'm just flushing my tear ducts. Gotta be done every few months or so." The dry humility of this line was somewhat lost by the fact that she was still crying when it was delivered.

"Right," James agreed disbelievingly. He sat down next to the crying girl and looked her over slowly. "You took my advice," he stated with a smile. When Lily gave him a confused look, he expanded: "Your hair. I like it."

This seemed to cause her much distress, and after a moment, she sobbed out, "No you don't. It looks horrible."

James sat still for a minute, not knowing how to dismiss female insecurity. Finally, he settled on distraction. "So, I came across Zabini yesterday," he started, somewhat randomly.

"Zabini?" Lily questioned.

"Yeah, Derek," James elaborated.

"Derek," Lily repeated, trying to place the name. "Do I know him?"

"Maybe. He's in our year, but he just came in September."

"He transferred? Can people even do that?" The stream of tears had slowed down significantly.

"Apparently. Well, maybe 'transferred' is the wrong word for it," he explained. "He was in Durmstrang and left partway through the year. Dumbledore made him start again in the fall, so he's actually a year older than us."

"Oh, huh." She was no longer crying. "So, your story?"

"Right, so I ran into him and Janet Bailey. She's a fifth year."

"I know that," Lily replied indignantly.

James laughed a little. "Well, you never know. You're a bit reclusive, bad with names. I thought I'd help you out." His smirk was met with a defensive glare. "Hey, she's two years younger than us," he argued. "It's not like you'd have class with her and she isn't a Gryffindor."

"She's a prefect."

"Oh, right," James observed, a hand disappearing into his hair. "I forgot."

"You forgot?" Lily laughed, her eyes twinkling. "It's October. You're kind of the worst Head Boy ever." The statement would have hurt, had she not said it with a smile.

"Yeah, well, we have you there for all that stuff," the marauder defended. "I'm just around to look pretty." He puffed out his chest a little for a few seconds and batted his lashes at her to exemplify the claim.

"Right, of course," Lily agreed with a chuckle, feeling a bit better about herself. "How silly of me to forget." The smile she was getting from him was making her feel a bit better about her hair, too.

"Anyways," James continued, "I'm in the dungeons, waiting to meet Slughorn because, well, actually, that's not important." Lily giggled slightly at his evasiveness, but he gave it no notice. "But I'm there, and I'm listening to these two flirt, and Janet has this guy eating out of the palm of her hand."

"Really? She's three years younger than him," Lily noted sceptically.

"Well, yeah, but she's got –" James cut himself off and coughed awkwardly. "She's very full-chested." With some amusement, Lily wondered what other term he would have used if he was in different company. "But I digress," he said with a hint of a blush. "Zabini starts bragging about how they learn the dark arts at Durmstrang, and Bailey wants a demonstration. Obviously I'm the only non-Slytherin kicking around in the dungeons after class, so he sends an imperio my way."

"Did he get you?" Lily asked, more invested in the story than she'd care to be.

"Nope," James concluded with a smile. "I deflected easily and threw him back into the wall. Rumour has it he had to get McMillan to heal four different bones. Wonder what Bailey thinks of the bloke now?" He gave a contented chuckle.

Lily felt very ambivalent about the story, and mulled the whole event over for several moments. Just when she was considering commenting, James decided that she had recovered enough from her earlier tears. "Now, are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Oh, nothing serious. I'm just lonely and homesick. I don't want to be tutored, not that I don't appreciate the offer," she added quickly, "which I do, I just don't want to _have _to be tutored." Lily ran through the past few days, tracking everything that was making her upset and decided not to mentioned most of the stereotypical teenaged things. She did, however, add, "and I really miss my old hair."

James smiled to himself, amazed at how different the sexes were. Save for Sirius, he had never met a bloke that gave his hair a second thought, but birds were constantly fretting, and apparently crying over theirs. He wondered if breakdowns, like the ones Lily seemed to have on a semi-regular basis, were far more common than he had thought. On that note, he casually flicked a piece of Lily's hair. "It'll grow back soon," he told her.

Lily scoffed. "It takes six years for a hair strand to grow to its full length, and these ones were lost right at the scalp. Plus, once the piece is back, I'll have to try to grow out the bangs."

James gaped at her in amazement. "Merlin, put a cork in the worrying, will you? You're only seventeen." He stood up and looked down at her, almost laughing at how worked up she was. "Maybe try to leak a little less, too. I know those tear ducts need flushing out and all," he told her snidely, "but I think your mental health could benefit from a little rest."

A ghost of a smile was seen on Lily's lips. "I'll see what I can do," she said lightly.

James put a mocking hand over his heart. "That's all I can ask for," he said, with great solidarity. He moved to leave, but stopped at one step. "By the way, I think you'll like the tutoring more once it actually starts," he added, joking aside. As he walked away, he called out, "See you tomorrow night, Lils!"

_oooooooooo_

Lily arrived ten minutes early for her tutoring session. She may not want to be there, but Lily Evans was nothing if not punctual. She flipped through the Transfiguration notes she had amassed during September with a scattered brain, waiting for James to come. Then, she heard a laugh from the doorway. "Of course you'd come early," he remarked with a chuckle. "And here I thought I'd have to drag you to tutoring. My mistake." Lily gave a quiet, uncomfortable laugh as James sat down in the seat next to hers.

"Alright, I guess we can just start then," he announced, rather unceremoniously. "So McGonagall recommended that we go over the quill to dove transformation first."

"Oh _god _no," Lily droned. "That was the most embarrassing moment of my life, and I've had my fair share of embarrassing events. If I never see another dove again, it'll be too soon."

"I figured as much," he said simply. "That's why I got McGonagall to give me next week's lesson plan."

Lily's face immediately lit up and her eyes took on a new and inspiring shine. "You didn't," she said with a smile. James reached down into the bag he had brought with him and removed a neat stack of parchment. Placing it on the desk with a certain amount of grandeur, he smiled back and said, "turning a shoe into an orchid." He then proceeded to slip off his shoes and put them next to spell's details.

_oooooooooo_

As the tutoring session grew to a close, Lily found herself pleasantly surprised in James. She had thought he would leer or make fun of her. She was half expecting him to use the excuse of demonstrating proper wand movements to feel her up, and she was certainly expecting to come out of the class no better at Transfiguration than she went in, but he had exceeded her expectations on every front. He had been gentlemanly and clear, and while the finer details of her orchid weren't quite there, she was certainly consistently producing something floral that looked nothing like a monster. As they were taking a small break, Lily decided to speak her mind about something she had been contemplating all day. "Hey James," she said tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking about that story you told me yesterday. The one about Zabini?" He nodded to say that he remembered telling her. "Well, I just wanted to say… at first I judged you. I was going to tell you that you shouldn't have stooped to his level. But I've been thinking about it ever since you told me, like, _really _thinking about it, and…" she trailed off, giving the whole scenario one final run through.

"Yeah?" James prompted, casually stretching back in his chair.

"I think how you acted was good," she eventually all but whispered. This earned her a curious cock of the eyebrow. "I think I would have done the same thing," she said with a self-affirming nod.

James gave a quick, short laugh. "No you wouldn't have," he said decisively. He was expecting her to laugh and agree, but judging by the look Lily was sporting, his statement was being met with some resistance. "It would have been the right choice to abstain, but you still wouldn't have done it," he repeated.

"What makes you say that?" There was a sharp edge to her voice.

James thought carefully about how to proceed. "Well, for starters, you wouldn't have had the guts. Or the quick thinking. You might have been able to block the spell, but then you would have tried to reason. You probably would have played the Head Girl card."

Lily thought the proposition over. "Well, maybe," she conceded. "But if I'd opted for it and it hadn't worked, then I would have fought back."

"Not so," James persisted. "It's cute of you to be so gallant in theory, but I know you better than you think. You're very diplomatic and not at all abrasive. In the heat of the moment, you never would have fought back." Lily said nothing, and he decided to continue. "Also, I would hope you wouldn't try the offensive because it wouldn't work for you."

"It wouldn't?" she questioned, still aggrieved.

"Well yeah. For starters, you're a muggleborn. There's nothing wrong with it, but your blood status is likely to really aggravate the pureblood that's probably the instigator in this situation." Lily was about to object to that claim and argue that the instigator was always angry, but James kept talking: "Also, your spells aren't that powerful."

"My spells aren't that powerful?" she repeated, enraged. "Where do you get off on saying something like that? I'm sorry I'm not in your elitist band of misfits, but I'll have you know that I'm a straight O student and that my spells are _pristine_."

"Exactly. Your diligence is commendable, your theory is impeccable, and the formation of your spells is flawless. Don't get me wrong, those are great things, but your spells are neither fast nor quick, and that's what you need to fight."

"Look, just because I'm a frail little girl and my parents aren't wizarding hot shots –"

"Oh, Lily, give it a rest," he groaned, interrupting her. "I'm not being sexist, or blood-ist, or anything else you can level at me. I'm just being honest."

"You're being what you think is honest, but you're not being objectively honest. Don't scrutinize someone's every move and then state your opinions as fact." Lily couldn't believe how unreasonable and offensive he was being now, especially when contrasted with how considerate he had been during the tutoring.

James took a deep, steadying breath, trying to think of a delicate way to articulate his thoughts. "I'm not trying to thrust my opinions down your throat, I'm trying to give you some perspective, and you should really do yourself the favour of heeding my advice." He paused for a second, as if daring Lily to interrupt him, but she remained quiet. "You've never been in a fight, and I've been in plenty. What use is me being kind when all that's going to cause is you getting your ass kicked?"

Lily was hopping mad, but tried to do James the courtesy of reining it in and keeping down her voice. "You have no idea that I'm going to 'get my ass kicked' and it's rude of you to presume. Besides, so what if I lose a fight or two?"

"What's wrong if you lose a fight or two? They won't just be fights, that's why. The world isn't the same place it was when you first learned about it in first year, and it's certainly not the place you'd like it to be." James was trying to phrase his thoughts politely, but her ignorance was astounding and enraging.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. There's no need to talk to me like I'm a child – I'm well aware that the world is big, bad, and scary." Lily's cheeks were flushed and her emotions were all over the place.

James decided to continue his scenario. "You want to lose a fight? Okay. You'll lose your wand, and then you're helpless. You're small, weak, and female, and you're almost out of school and into a war. You won't just lose a fight, you'll lose your freedom, innocence, or life."

Lily was silent for a moment. "I'll reiterate: I'm not as naïve as you think. You don't have to be melodramatic to scare me into looking before I leap."

"I'm not being melodramatic!" James shouted, standing up. "You disappear every summer and hide away with your muggle family. You don't read the newspaper, and you barely even talk to people who aren't Gryffindors or prefects, alright? And you are naïve. You are just naïve enough to put the world's problems on your shoulders and think that you can solve them yourself. I've heard you talking about joining the order, and I never thought something so idiotic could come out of your mouth."

"I just want –" she was unsure of how to finish, but James interrupted anyway.

"You want to help? That's great. But you're a bad magical fighter and you're a bad physical fighter. You go out there, a bad, muggleborn fighter? You're going to get taken by the deatheaters, tortured, raped, and killed. My dad's an auror; I've seen it happen." He fisted his palms and watched as Lily continued to stay silent. "Now if that's what you want, fine, but don't pretend that nobody warned you." James turned and started to leave the classroom, but Lily grabbed his arm, effectively stopping him.

"Wait," she said softly. "Don't go."

James sighed, frustrated, looking at the redhead before him. Her eyes were so innocent, and he couldn't help but let go of a layer of anger. "Look, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm really not," he told her. "I just think you've had all these ideas about what you'd do when you joined the real world, and that it's a lot closer than you think. You're not without talent, but I really think that pursuing fighting would be a decidedly bad idea."

Lily nodded, accepting his words. She thought about the situation to herself for a few moments, before her brain produced a ray of hope. "Maybe I could get better," she suggested, excitement growing. "I'll work on power."

James laughed humourlessly. "Lily, you don't understand. It's a disposition thing. A second-year me could take you right now."

Lily ripped her arm from his irately. "God, Potter, there's no need to be –"

"Potter?!" James yelled, turning red. Something in him had snapped and all his fury came flooding back.

"Yeah, what?" Lily inquired, defensively.

James stepped right up in Lily's face, and she was suddenly aware of just how much he towered over her. "I give up my evening to help you make orchids, and you can't so much as call me by my first name?" he asks, his voice deathly quiet. "I'm not the enemy, Lily. There are real enemies after you. Some of them even go to this school right now, but most of them are waiting, circling like vultures. And when you leave here, when Dumbledore can't protect you anymore, they'll descend." Lily swallowed nervously, looking up at the man before her, so different from the joking, cunning boy she was used to seeing. "There are real enemies, that you'll really have to face in eight months, and they have a hit list with your name on it. Your name is on the top and they'd love nothing more than to see your head detached from your body."

With that, James left. Lily sunk down into the nearest chair and breathed deeply, significantly more scared than she would have liked.

She was scared enough to leave her out of sorts and going about unawares for a few days to follow.


	3. Potions and Pondering

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited, alerted, etc. Your support means the world!**

Lily Evans felt very weird. Lily Evans had felt very weird for most of the day. She had briefly considered going to the hospital wing in the morning, but upon realizing the likelihood that McMillan would keep her there for hours without actually helping, she abandoned the idea. So, Lily Evans found herself wandering the halls with no particular destination in mind.

"Lily?" She looked up to see James with a confounded look on his face.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Lily Evans?" James asked again, for clarification.

"Uh, yes?"

"_The_ Lily Evans? Brown-nosing, perfectionist, Head Girl Lily Evans?"

"Uh-huh, what is it?" she asked, somewhat sharply.

James laughed a little, still not believing his eyes. "You know that class is going on right now, right? Herbology, down in the courtyard?"

"Well, yeah, it's half past nine," she responded curtly.

"And you're not in class?" he questioned dubiously.

"Obviously not," Lily told him, frustrated by his disbelief. "I'm here, being pestered by you. And now I'm leaving." She started to walk past him.

"Hey, wait, I'm sorry," he said, walking backward so he could still make eye contact with her. "It was just a joke. It wasn't funny."

"Right," Lily muttered, under her breath.

"And look, while I have you here, I just want to apologize for the other night," he said, sidestepping in front of her so she had to stop. "I mean, it was true, what I said, but there was no reason to be that harsh. You're a great witch, and I'm sure you'll be really valuable to the cause in the ways you can," he said sincerely. "Plus, walking out on you like that was rude and I later realized that it may have seemed like I was walking out on the tutoring altogether. I'm definitely still willing to help you out with your Transfiguration. You made some real progress – I'm sure we'll have no trouble getting you up to form for your Newts," he finished with a smile.

"Right, thanks," Lily said absentmindedly. "Have you seen Black around anywhere?" she asked suddenly. She wasn't even exactly sure why she wanted to know, but it had started to bother her that she had no idea.

"Uhh, yeah, this morning," James informed her with a puzzled look. "I assume he's in class now."

"Oh, of course," Lily replied, with an uncharacteristic hand gesture.

"Are you alright?" James asked, looking her in the eye. "You don't seem yourself."

She gave an anxious sort of titter. "Well, I'm me, and no one else is me," she elaborated in a rushed sort of way. "So, it doesn't really matter how I'm acting, I would be, by definition, being myself." At that point, she tried to sidestep James and be on her way, but he reached out and put his hands on her shoulders, holding her in place.

"Are you okay?" he asked her slowly, deliberately. "Do you feel well?"

"Healthy as a horse," Lily informed him brightly. She finished with a cheery smile, as if proving her point.

James sighed at her likely intentional misinterpretation. "Alright, but are you upset about anything? Did something happen?"

"Nope, I'm right as rain," she declared confidently. James noted that her voice seemed superficially high. "Okay, sorry, but I'm running really late, so I'm going to head off," she said abruptly, then briskly walked to the end of the hall, and sharply turned the corner. James looked on for a minute after she had left, somewhat concerned over her newfound battiness, before resuming his trip to the kitchens.

Lily continued meandering around the castle, not fully knowing where she was headed. She had a strong desire to be _somewhere, _but couldn't, for the life of her, put her finger on where exactly that was. As a result, she was quite agitated and discontent as she turned corner after corner and chose passageways with seeming randomness. She had toyed with the idea of going to Herbology in search of Sirius, but that hadn't seemed quite right. So instead, she continued her search for her unknown holy grail.

She had been paying almost no mind to where she was going when she started her journey and she was nearly oblivious as she ventured deeper and deeper into the dungeons. So, when she ran into three seventh year Slytherin boys, it gave Lily quite the start. She gave a quiet gasp, and turned around in an attempt to escape unnoticed. Unfortunately for her, they had already seen the redhead, and quickly caught up to her.

"Well hey there, mudblood," one of them practically cooed. "You lost?" another asked.

"No, sorry," Lily said quickly. "I've really got to go – I'll just be on my way."

"Where you going so fast?" the third asked. "Are you looking for someone?" He wore a look Lily would later describe as "Cat-Ate-The-Cannery," but was presently unable to identify.

"Yeah, actually," she answered, "so I'll just keep looking for them." She tried to leave but they stepped in her way.

"But we know who you're looking for, don't we Zabini?" the first one asked again. Now that she could see him better, she could tell that he was Avery, and Lily assumed the third was Mulciber.

"Well yeah, we do," Zabini answered.

The coherent part of Lily's brain, the one that was telling her that staying here held great danger, was slowly shutting down. "You do?" she asked, despite herself.

"Yeah, and we can take you to him," Zabini drawled. He spun her around by the shoulders and started leading her deeper into the dungeons.

"Who is he?" Lily questioned. She couldn't stop herself.

"Why, he's Regulus, of course," Avery told her.

Lily hadn't known who her holy grail would be when she set out looking for him after breakfast, but she sure as hell knew it when she heard his name. "Regulus," she sighed wistfully.

"Of course it's Regulus," Mulciber whispered in her ear. "It's always been Regulus."

The three of them walked Lily into the Slytherin common room and toward what she assumed were the boys' dormitories. They stopped outside one room in particular. "Now listen, mudblood," Zabini started, staring Lily straight in the eyes.

"Yeah?" she asked, curious to know what he could tell her pertaining to Regulus. Avery and Mulciber snickered off to one side at her complete lack of respect.

"Regulus has been having a bit of a bad day, and we need you to go in there and make it better for him, alright?"

"How?" she wondered anxiously. What if she didn't do it right?

"Oh, well, you know, just do whatever he wants," he told her. "And do you think you could put out? Fucking mudbloods really cheers him up," he whispered.

"Oh, of course," Lily answered, nodding. "Anything for Regulus."

"That's right," Zabini agreed with a pat on the back. "Anything for Regulus." Then he pushed her into the room and closed the door behind her.

Lily hadn't known who her holy grail was when she had unconsciously descended into the dungeons, but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt when she saw his face.

_oooooooooo_

"What happened?" Lily asked groggily of the girl before her. She was in a dark room that she guessed was the hospital wing.

"Oh, don't fret about it, dear. We can talk tomorrow." She gave Lily a soft smile and passed her a potion. Lily drank it without comment and went back to sleep.

Lily awoke a few more times during the night, but never had much trouble returning to her slumber. When she woke up for good, light was streaming in through the windows and McMillan was bent over her arm. Lily started to ask him why she was in the hospital, but soon found her throat to be dry and uncooperative. "Water?" she croaked instead.

McMillan sealed the bandage on her arm and stood up, straightening his uniform in the process. "Poppy!" he called, before retreating back into his office. A few moments later, a lady appeared before her with a cup of water. Lily recognized her from the previous night.

"How come I've never seen you before?" she asked the girl, once she had had a sip.

"Well, I don't think you've ever needed help in the evening before," she answered with another smile.

"So you work the night shift?" Lily inferred, before examining the room once more. "It's daytime right now," Lily pointed out, looking at the windows in particular.

"It's around 6:30," the lady told her. "I'll be off to bed soon." She took the conversation as an opportunity to fluff Lily's pillow and straighten her bedding.

"I was in here overnight last week and I didn't see you."

"But I saw you. You were sleeping. I don't have much of a presence," she said with a chuckle. Now that the bed was righted, she started to leave.

"Wait," Lily called out. "Why am I here?"

"I'm not too sure myself. I think the headmaster will be in to talk to you shortly."

True to form, Lily didn't have to wait for more than ten minutes before Dumbledore came to see her. "Hello Miss Evans," he greeted, his eyes twinkling as usual. "How are you feeling?"

"A little tired," she responded truthfully. "If you don't mind me asking, Professor, why am I here?"

"Ah, yes. I'm afraid you may have been slipped a little bit of Amortentina," he told her.

"The love potion?" she asked incredulously.

"Not a very strong brew, but yes. Fortunately, some of your friends found you and Professor Slughorn was able to reverse the effects."

"So… I'm fine now?" Lily clarified. She still hadn't gotten over the shock of waking up in the hospital wing.

"Fit as a fiddle," Dumbledore declared happily. "The only point of concern is your arm."

"My arm?"

"Yes, I'm sorry Miss Evans. I even looked through some of my favourite spell books, but I'm afraid it was done with a new branch of dark magic for which there is not yet a counter curse. I will, of course, mention it to my colleagues and let you know if I stumble across anything that might work."

"I don't understand," Lily told the Professor cautiously. "My arm feels fine. What's wrong with it?" Dumbledore walked over to her side and undid the bandage on her left forearm. When it was gone, the word "mudblood" was easily read. Lily stared at it in shock.

"I'm truly very sorry, Lily. The ointments applied overnight don't appear to have done much. Of course, there are probably cosmetic spells that could be used to cover it up on a routine basis." Lily had yet to look up from her arm.

"It was Regulus," she said, suddenly remembering. "Black." She looked up to meet the man's eyes.

"That's who the potion was designed to make you love, however that's not necessarily who made the batch or gave it to you."

Lily heaved a large sigh, deeply frustrated. "There's no proof?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"I have my suspicions, but they are as yet, unverified." Dumbledore placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "If you have no further questions, Miss Evans, I'm afraid I have places to be."

"Of course, yes," she said sadly. "Thank you for coming, Professor."

"Oh, no matter at all. It's always a pleasure, Miss Evans, even if I wish I were here under better circumstances. I'll let your friends in on my way out," he said with a smile. _Friends? _

She had only a precious minute to herself before she was greeted by Sirius and Remus. She felt a brief tang of disappointment that James hadn't come with them.

"Hey Lily," Remus said with a smile. It quickly faltered when he saw her arm. "They couldn't do anything about it?" he asked, sympathy written all over his face.

"Apparently not," Lily answered softly. She was very nearly crying, but refused to give in. "So, uh, I remember most of the day," she told them with a blush. "But I'm still a little fuzzy about the end. What happened?"

"I heard some Slytherins talking about how Reg was finally going to 'join the big leagues' during History of Magic," Sirius said darkly. He wasn't even looking at Lily. "I listened some more; it became pretty obvious that he was doing some kind of gesture to prove he was good enough to become a death eater. I didn't even connect the dots to you, but I thought I might be able to stop him. So I snuck out of class and was just trolling the dungeons when I found him. He had you, well, unconscious, but I think he was just about finished. He wanted to leave you somewhere that wouldn't result in him getting the blame."

Lily absorbed this quickly, when another fact entered her mind. "Had he done anything to me?" she asked tentatively.

"Well, your arm."

"No, no, I know, but, uh, had we had sex?" Her face flooded with blood, but she needed to know.

Sirius sharply turned to look at her, his face appalled for a split second. Then he thought long and hard about it. "I don't think so," he told her after a pregnant pause. "He said all he had done was your arm. He could have been lying, but I don't think so."

"Alright," Lily concluded with a nod. "Alright." Nothing was said for a few moments.

Remus put a hand on her leg. "Look, Lily, we have to get going to grab some food before class, but I'm really glad to see you're ok."

"Thank you," Lily said softly, which earned her a nod. Remus patted the leg and then turned to leave. "You coming mate?" he asked of Sirius.

"I'll be down in a minute," Sirius replied. Once Remus had left, he pulled up a chair and sat down, taking one of Lily's hands and looking her in the eyes. "Lily, I am so sorry," he said with great sincerity. Lily opened her mouth to tell him not to worry, but she didn't get a chance. "And don't tell me that it's not my fault," he said sternly. "Reg is my brother, even if we're nothing alike and can't get along to save our lives. He's my brother, and I should have known, and I should have stopped him."

"Siruis, don't blame yourself. There aren't that many muggleborns in the school. If he hadn't done it, someone else probably would have, and it's not that bad, all things considered." She meant every word.

Sirius took another long look at her face before standing up. "Okay," he said. "I'm sorry, and I'll see you later. Feel better." With a quick smile, he was gone, and Lily was alone.

"Poppy!" she called out, an idea suddenly springing to her mind. When the girl appeared she gave a slightly bashful smile. "Sorry, but I didn't catch your last name. Would you mind looking at something for me?"

Lily was indescribably relieved to find out that Regulus had spoken the truth.

_oooooooooo_

Lily was a little unsure why she was still in the hospital wing, but as much as she'd hate to admit it, she was enjoying the peace and quiet. She had spent most of the day taking quiet stock of her life, but at nearly two in the afternoon, she was met with an interruption.

She watched James enter the room, quietly close the door behind him, and walk over to Lily's bed. She watched him pull over a chair, sit in it, and look like he was doing everything possible to not break out in a smile. "Hello," she greeted tentatively.

At that point, James beamed. "I'm sorry, I really wanted to wait and have a serious conversation first, but I just can't," he told her. "I spent all morning searching for it and I finally have it!" With that, he produced his wand and had it pointed directly at Lily's face.

"Wat'cha doing there?" she asked tentatively, going cross-eyed.

"Capillatura incrementa autographima!" he shouted. His wand emitted a soft glow of light, but otherwise, nothing much of interest had happened.

Lily looked at her surroundings, verifying that everything was as it previously was. "Well that was great…" she started with a doubtful chuckle.

"I fixed your hair!" James shouted at her.

"What?" Lily yelped, grabbing the vanity on her bedside table. To her astonishment, the missing pieces of hair were completely back, and the parts she had cut to make her bangs were their original length. She had a huge, stupid grin plastered to her face as she felt the new strands between her fingers, admiring that they were just as silky as they ever were. "James, thank you so much," she said sincerely.

He kept smiling, leaning back in his chair. "I wanted to find a spell that would work on your arm, but I reckoned if Dumbledore couldn't, I didn't stand much of a chance," he said, the corners of his mouth tilting downward. "Anyways, I figured I'd go for the next best thing."

"It's perfect, thank you."

The two of them spent several minutes in silence, both thinking heavily. James was the one who finally broke it: "I'm sorry."

Lily turned her head in his direction and was met with intense eyes. "For what?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"I saw you yesterday, Lily. I _talked _to you yesterday. I knew something was wrong, and I just…" he trailed off, seemingly unaware of how to articulate his guilt.

"Don't worry about it," she told him simply.

"Don't worry about it?" James questioned, bewildered. "How can you say something like that? Aren't you furious?"

"No, I'm not," Lily said, not fully realizing the truth of her words until they were spoken out loud. "I'm a little embarrassed," she said with a chuckle, "but I'm not that mad. I think it kind of needed to happen, actually. Bit of an eye-opener."

"So my long speeches don't do it for you, I take it?" he asked with a laugh.

"Nope, needed the experience," she replied lightly. "Besides, nothing that bad happened, all things considered."

"Nothing bad? What about your arm?" James wondered if the full extent of her branding had yet to sink in.

Lily gave her arm another look. "It's what I am, right?" Lily noticed a look of outrage appear on James's face and decided to quickly finish her though. "I mean, it's a crude term. But I'm of muggle descent. I'm not ashamed of that. And if they want to give it a stupid name? That's fine. It only has so much power over me as I give it."

James thought over the proposition carefully. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah, I really do," she answered. "You know, I was thinking about what you said the other day. How we only have eight months left?" James nodded, showing he remembered the comment. "And I thought, why waste it? I'll be fighting real battles so soon, why make mountains out of molehills?"

"Excuse me?"

"Muggle saying," she said, by way of explanation. "I just mean, as long as I don't, you know, challenge them to duels, and I'm a little more careful with my drinks," she said with a slight blush, "there's really nothing they can do to hurt me. Why waste my time being upset that some idiots call me a dumb name? How about I just embrace it, so they can't get the satisfaction?"

James's shook his head back and forth, a smile teasing his features. "Lily Evans, you are one of a kind."

"That's me," she said with a grin. "Although, I'm not perfect."

"Oh? That so?" James was happy to be past the seriousness of the earlier part of the conversation.

"Well yeah. I mean, I like to think I'm forgiving, but I just can't shake the idea that if the Slytherins were dumb enough to say their password in front of me, they deserve some kind of schadenfreude-induced prank to their common room."

James's face slowly lit up. "You know the password to the Slytherin common room?" he asked, nearly giddy. 

"I know the password," she confirmed with a sly smile.

"And you want to get back at them?" he continued.

"Well yeah," she said, as if it were obvious. "I kind of feel I have to. A big sense of obligation."

"Oh, of course," James agreed. "Do you, by any chance, want some marauding assitance fufilling this sense of obligation?"

"Oh, I think that's a must. I wouldn't even know where to start, so I definitely require your marauding expertise." Lily very nearly refrained from giggling as she said this.

James jumped up from his seat happily. "Just leave it to us, Lily. We've got you covered." He made a show of giving her a mock salute and Lily smiled contentedly, having found a renewed sense of purpose for her final year at Hogwarts.


	4. Bandits and Breakfast

**Thank you again to anyone who supports this story! If you review, it makes my day. **

Lily Evans was perched on the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, looking out into the great abyss that was a Hogwarts hallway after curfew.

"I'm sorry, why are we waiting again?" Sirius asked, irked and antsy. Lily neglected to answer him, instead staring down at her feet.

"It would appear that Lily is scared of leaving the common room after dark," Remus supplied dryly.

"I'm not scared," Lily muttered quietly. "I just haven't done it before."

"Oh, my apologies," Remus chuckled, "Lily is scared of leaving the common room after dark for the first time. It makes a big difference, you see."

"You've really never broken curfew before?" Sirius asked incredulously. "Prongs and I did it on the first night."

"Right, well I don't fancy myself a bandit," she replied snippily. "And no, aside from rounds, I've never been out late."

"Ok, well imagine we're rounding," James suggested. "Remus and I are even with you, and we've been known to round."

"Rounding is earlier," Lily argued. "When the place is still kind of lit up. And it's not against the rules."

"Are you really incapable of breaking a school rule?" Sirius asked, clearly becoming infuriated. "You know you're seventeen, right? As in, you're an adult? This would dictate that you have the ability to make choices for yourself, such as when to go to bed."

"I can break a rule. I'm sure I've done it before," she responded.

Sirius snorted at her statement. "Somehow I doubt that. But if you're so sure, then I reiterate: why are we waiting?"

"It's just a big step for me, alright? I'm taking a moment," she informed him, irritated at his lack of understanding.

"Because you're scared," Remus chirped.

"No, I am seventeen years old. I am not scared of a dark hallway." It sounded more like she was convincing herself than the boys.

"Yes, we get that, you're scared of breaking a rule."

"No, I'm not. And you know, if I _was _scared of anything, which I'm not, it _would _be the whole dark hallway thing because I'm female. And a muggleborn. So, actually, dark passageways at night could be really dangerous for me. And on that line of thought –" Lily's ramble was cut short by James reaching out and pulling her down into the hallway. All was silent as Lily brushed herself off and looked up, but upon seeing her face, the three boys began to guffaw. "Why would you do that?" she demanded of James, poking him in the chest.

James took her hand in his and brought it back down, swaying gently. "Sorry, Lils, it had to be done," he consoled with a pat on her shoulder. "We are operating on a bit of a time constraint."

Lily ripped her hand from his and took a few steps away, rather miffed. When the boys' laughter had died down to a quiet snicker, they set off.

"So where's Peter?" she asked casually, the excitement of the journey finally forcing her to get over her earlier vexation.

"He's pulling an all-nighter to finish that Potions essay," James told her.

"And none of you felt like staying behind to help him?" Lily questioned with obvious undertones of judgement.

"Hey, we offered," Sirius defended.

"_Some of us_ offered," Remus corrected.

"He turned you down? That doesn't sound much like Peter." Lily always felt a little out of step with the Marauders, even when they were being perfectly nice to her. She wistfully wondered if she would ever have a tight friendship like theirs.

"Yeah, well, I don't think he wanted to keep any of us from this amazingly epic prank," James offered. Lily gave him a dubious look and he added, "If he's still up when we get back, we'll help him finish."

Lily accepted this and they kept walking. "I feel like I never see Peter anymore," she observed. "I don't think I've had a conversation with him at all this year."

"He's really worried that his marks won't be good enough to get him a decent job after graduation," Remus explained. "He already had to get special permission to take some courses."

"Special permission?" Lily had never heard of such a thing.

"He didn't score high enough of some of his OWLs and had to meet with Dumbledore. He's super worried about his NEWTs."

"I had no idea," Lily remarked sadly. "If he ever needs help studying, tell him I'd be happy to help him out, yeah?"

"Don't worry your sweet little head over it, petal," Sirius told her condescendingly.  
"We've got it covered. Besides, I've heard your not so much the tutor these days as the tutee." He wore a smile that said he was very proud of himself.

"I don't want to talk about that," she said plainly.

"But Lilykins!" Sirius cried, "don't you like your new tutor? Isn't he ruggedly handsome and extremely well-versed in the daring, mystical world of Transfiguration?"

"Mate, she said she didn't want to talk about it. Give her a break," James instructed, somewhat morosely.

"Oh Prongsie-boy, no reason to be modest, we all know –"

"You know, I haven't actually told you the password yet," Lily interrupted. "You know that I know it, but you don't know what it is." She had stopped walking with them, causing the others to halt their progress as well.

"Yes, granted," Sirius conceded. "Your point being?"

"Well, I know that this prank is sort of a favour to me. But I'm sure that you guys are also dying to do this, so I'm sure you want to know that password." She sounded much more petulant and obstinate than she would have liked, but she couldn't face the alternative.

"And let me guess – you'll only tell us if we change the conversation?" He didn't seem at all distressed about the idea.

"Bingo!" Lily exclaimed, resuming her previous pace. When no change of subject presented itself, she decided to take it into her own hands. "So can you guys finally tell me what we have planned for their common room? I feel very in the dark."

"Oh, we could," James said with a smile. "But you've come this far already. It'd be much better to just _show _you what we have planned."

"You guys suck," she said with a slight twinkle in her face.

The four of them continued to talk idly, until finally: "We're here," Sirius declared triumphantly.

"What, really?" Lily asked, looking around. "It's been, like, five minutes."

"Just one of the joys of travelling with us bandits," he told her playfully. Then, he gestured to the entrance. "Will you do the honours?"

"Are we sure no one's in there?" she asked, suddenly nervous.

"Oh, red, I'm sure nearly a quarter of the school's in there."

"Ha, ha," she said humourlessly. "Are we sure no one will be in the public area?"

"Nope," James told her sincerely. "But it's three in the morning on a Wednesday. It would seem pretty unlikely."

"But what if someone is?" she inquired, her voice becoming more and more frantic.

"Then we deal with it," Sirius answered lazily.

"Deal with it?"

"Yes, Lily, we're wizards. We can deal with things," Remus said, amused. "Now can we please get going? It'd be nice if we could get _some _sleep tonight."

"But what if we get caught?" She hated herself for wanting to bail at the eleventh hour, but every instinct in her body was telling her that going in was a bad idea.

"Then we get caught. We do a bit of detention. It's really not the end of the world." James sounded like he was growing impatient and frustrated.

"Alright," she said with a deep breath. "Okay." She turned to face the seemingly average stone wall and took another, steadying breath. Then, calmly and with great certainty, she said, "Paracelsus." When the passageway was revealed, she heard three exclamations of gratitude.

As they entered the common room, Lily was incredibly relieved to see that nobody was up. "God this place is gloomy," Remus remarked, looking around. "You wonder if they actually even like it."

"Yeah, geez," Sirius agreed. Once they had each taken in the room, it was James who asked, "Shall we get started, then?"

Lily took a precious second to look over the eerily familiar room, remembering earlier events. While they made her feel a touch insecure, she had a prevailing desire for retribution. "Hell yes."

From that point on, the night was a blur of rapid incantations and delayed-onset charms. The only main point of interest for Lily came while the boys were up working on the dormitories (something she had deemed too risky). She was leaning casually against the wall near the entrance when she heard a creek from the stairwell. Nearly jumping out of her skin, she pointed her wand in the direction of the stairs and waited for the figure to make itself known. She held her breath for what seemed like an eternity, heart beating furiously, until finally, "Lily?"

The Slytherin walked down a few steps before she recognized him in turn. "Sev," she whispered, relieved and horrified all at once.

Severus descended the rest of the staircase, but was hesitant to move any closer. "What are you doing here?" he asked cautiously. His voice already sounded disappointed.

Lily laughed a little at the absurdity and irony of the situation. "We're trashing your common room," she said bluntly.

"We're?" he questioned, his eyes flashing. "Please, do tell who composes the royal we."

"Uhh, James, Sirius, Remus," she listed, desperately wishing that he would drop it.

"Oh, of course," Severus proclaimed sarcastically. His hands were in fists. "So this is what you do now? Curse people for fun? Fancy yourself some sort of gift from Merlin and turn your nose down at everyone else? Prank anyone you feel like because it amuses you?" His voice was rising with each question and Lily was beginning to worry that he would wake his friends up.

"No, Sev, it's not like that," she explained.

"Really? So that's not why I found you breaking into my common room at five in the morning? You know, I knew you were naïve, Lily, but I never thought you would be this stupid. This is really how you plan to spend your final year? On practical jokes? I thought you were smarter than that."

Lily opened her mouth to explain her predicament, but she was hopping mad, and her justifications died on her tongue along with her patience. "Yep!" she exclaimed instead, popping her 'p.' "That's what I choose to do." She went to lean back on the wall behind her and made a show of propping up her head with her hands, leaving both forearms fully visible. She could see his eyes drift to the left one and return with a hint of sympathy. "You turned on me, and I am finally starting to get along with some people in my own house – something I should have done six years ago. And yes, I have every intention of using my last year for pranks and practical jokes because it is simply an opportunity that I am not willing to miss out on." She let him absorb this before proceeding. "And you know what? It's great that you thought I was smarter than this, but I truly don't care. I firstly don't care because apparently you also thought I was naïve and impure, but more importantly, I don't care because you're not a part of my life anymore. So you can judge me all you like, but it isn't going to make a hoot of a difference."

Both of them were quiet for a short time before Severus asked, "Your arm: did someone here do it?"

"Yes," she answered dully. Her talks with Severus now were filled with such ambivalence, and it made her just want to cry.

Severus nodded and thought about it for a moment. "I think I can get rid of it." Lily looked up and met his eyes, seeing what she thought was a pang of regret. "I mean, I know who made it," he continued. "And I think I know the counter curse."

"Oh, and you would bestow this great knowledge upon me, the poor little mudblood? You'll heroically swoop down and rid me of the scar your own friends gave me?" She didn't want to be so biting or vicious, but she didn't seem to be able to help it.

"Lily, don't be like that," he said softly. "No one should have to be branded like that for the rest of their lives. Besides, it's cruel and ugly, and you're lovely and beautiful. It doesn't belong."

Lily swallowed with a dry throat; she missed him so much it hurt. "Don't talk like that,"  
she whispered.

"Why not?" he asked with an undertone of desperation.

"Because," she said, blinking back tears. "I don't want a friend who's sweet sometimes. I don't want someone who's kind when it's convenient, when we're alone."

Severus opened his mouth, but promptly closed it again. She was being reasonable, as much as it pained him to admit, and there was nothing that could be said on the subject. "Let me fix your arm," he said instead, taking a few steps in Lily's direction. "At least let me do that."

Lily considered her options for a moment, before answering, "No, leave it."

Severus sighed, exasperated. "Lily, don't leave your arm like that as some sort of punishment for me. Don't accept it out of spite."

"I'm not," she said faintly. She wiped a few stray tears from her eyes.

"I don't understand," he told her truthfully.

"No," she agreed. "You don't."

There's no telling what the two students might have gone on to say, for at that instant, the Gryffindor boys returned from their business upstairs. "Lily?" James asked, keeping his voice low. "Everything alright here?"

"Yes," she answered wearily. "Everything's fine."

The boys carried on down the stairs and into the common room until they were next to Lily. "Alright," James said after a moment. "Well, we're all finished and people might start getting up soon, so we should really be on our way."

Lily nodded and no one said anything for a short while. Remus and James began making their way toward the door, but their progress was halted when Sirius asked, "Is he going to tell anyone?"

Lily peered at Sirius, whose eyes seemed nearly murderous. She looked back at Severus and was about to answer, when he beat her to it: "No," he said, softly but surely. "I'm not."

The boys appraised him very carefully, and James questioned, "Really?"

"Yeah, really. Just get out of here."

The Marauders didn't need to be told twice and wasted no time in exiting the Slytherin common room. Lily only had time for a fleeting glance at her former friend before she followed them.

_oooooooooo_

Four very exhausted Gryffindors sat at their table in the Great Hall, all on the same side, all facing the other three tables. "Remind me again why we had to be the first ones here?" Lily asked, closing her eyes gingerly.

"Because!" Sirius exclaimed, "We have to see the reaction!"

"Well, yeah," Lily said slowly. "I get that. But do we really care that much?"

"Yes!" the three of them answered in unison.

"But they'll be mad all day. Why do we have to see their first-thing-in-the-morning-reaction?"

"Because it's the best reaction!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Somehow I doubt that," Lily argued tiredly. "And I really doubt that it's better than sleep. Not to mention that this is somewhat incriminating."

"Someone's coming," Remus told them, and the group all looked to the doors. The four of them groaned when it was revealed to be just another Ravenclaw.

"I never realized the Ravenclaws were such an early-rising bunch," Sirius remarked with a look of awe at the fifteen-odd students currently eating at their table.

"Early morning studying sessions?" James suggested, earning himself a chuckle from Sirius and Remus.

"Hey," Lily objected. "Don't pigeonhole the Ravenclaws. They're people too. They do things other than study. I was almost a Ravenclaw, you know." She sounded very indignant.

James considered her for a few moments. "Yeah, I can see that," he told her nonchalantly, turning back to his cereal.

Lily ripped off a piece of her toast and threw it at him. "Don't pigeonhole me either," she chastised. "Besides," she continued, "even if they are getting up for early morning studying lessons, that's much more impressive than anything you guys do on a regular basis."

"Those are harsh words, Evans," Sirius warned. "Some might even call them dangerous."

"I'm not too concerned," she responded, board.

After a minute, Remus commented, "You know, I always thought the getting up early thing was more of a Hufflepuff trait."

"Oh yeah, I can see that," James agreed. "The wholesome-hearted, healthy-lifestyle approach."

"Mhmm, they'd have friendship-building exercises and group discussions where they discuss their mutual problems." He had taken on a fake falsetto voice and finished his statement by mockingly putting his hands to his heart.

"Hey!" Lily called again. "Don't pigeonhole the Hufflepuffs!"

The three boys stopped their musings and stared at her. "Slytherins are slimy, ignorant, jerks," James stated, testing the waters.

"I couldn't agree more," Lily said lightly, causing them to laugh.

"Guys," Remus said after a moment, "Door."

The Gryffindors' attention was drawn to the large set of double doors once again, where, at long last, their tribulations were rewarded. Five very wet and very irate Slytherins of assorted shapes and sizes trudged through the door and up the centre of the Hall. They were soon joined by over twenty more, all yelling their complaints at they array of professors trying to eat their breakfast.

"There's half a metre of water!" one yelled at Dumbledore.

"You can't leave the common room without getting soaked!" another bawled.

"The humidity ruined my hair!" whined a particularly snooty looking girl Lily suspected might be Janet Bailey.

"Your hair? It ruined all my things!" complained the guy standing next to her.

"Yeah, my Potions essay is drenched! Now I can't hand it in!" one opportunistic student explained to Slughorn.

"Your essay? Who cares about your essay? Some of my clothes are destroyed!"

"Someone got into our common room!"

"Someone got into and _trashed _our common room!"

"I bet they were a bunch of mudbloods and sympathizers!"

"Good-for-nothing mudbloods that ruined all our stuff!"

"Everyone calm down!" The last of these calls was made by Professor Schroder, the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor new this year. He was a mellow, down-to-earth man in his early twenties. When he had the students' undivided attention, he proceeded: "Alright, first of all, you guys are wizards, right? So you know some spells? For instance, drying charms?" There were a few embarrassed murmurs in the crowd. "Right, that's what I thought. So you should use those, and, uh, you should go and write that potions essay you obviously never started," he advised, signalling out the fourth year who had made the comment. "Now, I think I get the gist of it – someone came in and flooded your dorm. So once of us will come by and see if we can get rid of the water. Is everyone happy now?"

Several grumbles of acquiescence were heard amongst the swarm of Slytherins, but one raised an objection. "What about whoever did it?" he called, "They should be punished!"

"Well, ok," Schroder conceded. "That might be an appropriate course of action. But unless one of you has a good deal of information they're not sharing, we don't know who's responsible. So I suggest you change the password to your common room, and put the whole incident behind you."

"Put it behind us?" Janet Bailey questioned in horror. "How could we possibly do that? Some vermin violated our privacy and decimated our common room, with no care whatsoever to our belongings!"

"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" Schroder asked, placing a hand to the bridge of his nose. "You guys got a little wet, right? So you shake it off, dry your things. None of you are really that worse for wear, and I reiterate: we don't know who did it, so there's nothing more we can do. No use holding a grudge at no one in particular."

"I know who did it," someone said from the middle of the group. The crowd parted ways on either side, revealing the speaker to be Zabini.

"Oh, really? By all means, do tell." The professor looked incredibly tired.

"It was them," he cried melodramatically, pointing right at the spot from which Lily and the Marauders were currently watching the scene in amusement.

"Do you actually know it was them?" Schroder asked lazily. "Do you even suspect it was them? Or do you just hope it was them so that they can get some detention?"

"I know it," Zabini insisted stubbornly, crossing his arms in defiance.

"How, exactly, do you know this?"

"Well, I saw it, obviously." The teenager was standing his ground.

"You saw it?" the man clarified, clearly amused. "At what time was this?"

"I don't know. Night time."

"Right. So if I've got this correct, you were up, in the middle of the night, you saw these students in your common room, and you did nothing about it? You didn't confront them or get them to stop? You didn't even feel like telling someone? You just happily went back to bed, woke up, got wet, and then complained?"

Zabini shifted uncomfortably. "Well yeah. That's what happened."

Professor Schroder evaluated the student for some time, before raising his hands in defeat. "Headmaster, I think I'll let you take care of this one from here." With that, he sat back down and resumed eating his breakfast. The Great Hall, once again, erupted in noise, until Dumbledore put an end to it by calling Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Zabini to his office.

_oooooooooo _

The scene in Dumbledore's office was uncomfortable to say the least. Dumbledore sat on one end of his desk, with the five of them tightly crammed on the other.

"So, let me see if I understand this correctly," the professor began. "Mr. Zabini, you claim that you saw these four Gryffindors in your common room last night."

"That's right."

"Alright, very well. Gryffindors, how do you plead?" His eyes were twinkling in their usual fashion.

James and Sirius gave each other confused looks, but Lily, picking up on the joke, answered "Not guilty." She couldn't help but smile as she said it.

"Very well. Mr. Zabini, do you have anything else to add on the subject?"

"No," he answered stubbornly. "But it doesn't matter. I saw them. They should be punished."

"Hmm," the professor remarked pensively. "Miss Evans, do you have anything to add on the subject?"

"Yes," Lily said plainly. "If he saw us last night, why didn't he say anything until morning? Why didn't he wake up his friends? Why aren't more people coming forward saying we did it? I'm sorry, professor, but this claim just doesn't hold much validity in my books." She finished by leaning back in her chair and clasping her hands in her lap, quite proud of herself.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, stroking his beard. "Well, Mr. Zabini, I'm sorry to say this, but it would appear that we are at a stalemate. It is simply your word against theirs."

"Give them veritaserum. That's how we did it in Durmstrang." If Lily had to describe his expression in a word, it would be murderous.

"Mr. Zabini, I'm sorry, but this isn't Durmstrang, and we believe that potion to be a violation of our students' privacy."

"But they fucking did it!" Zabini cried, jumping up from his chair. "And if they have nothing to hide, then they shouldn't object to some truth potion."

"Mr. Zabini –"

"Look, we're all adults here. Not some group of children. We're all seventeen, and they should be held accountable for their actions." No one said anything, creating a pregnant pause.

"If we're getting veritaserum than so should he!" Lily exclaimed, standing up. "Someone slipped me a love potion last week. And we don't know who, but he," she declared, pointing at Zabini, "and his friends found me and brought me into their dungeons, where I sustained this," she stated, rolling up the sleeve of her left arm dramatically. "Now clearly this was done by a Slytherin and I'd like to see him under some truth serum too."

The other three boys jumped up from their seats and the room proceeded to explode in a fit of blaming, pointing, and shouting. "Everyone calm down," Dumbledore told them calmly. When the four students had resumed sitting down, the meeting continued. "Now, Gryffindors, Mr. Zabini is right. You are all adults. Do you object to the use of veritaserum?"

"Yes," they all said in unison.

"Hmm, very interesting. Mr. Zabini, do you object to the use of veritaserum on yourself?"

"Yes," he answered dully.

"Very well. I do believe, then, that we can reject the idea of truth potion."

The five teenagers nodded in agreement.

"Alright, now, Misters Black, Potter, and Lupin, and Miss Evans," the professor started, staring at each of them individually, as if he were staring into their souls.

"Yes?" Remus prompted.

"There is an accusation that you committed this crime, however, I think everyone in this room knows that the evidence behind this claim is slim. So, I recommend, for the possibility that you flooded the Slytherin common room, a punishment of two detentions each, to be served within the month. Does this seem fair?"

His question was met with a unanimous "Yes," although nobody in the room seemed to be very happy about it.

"Now, Mr. Zabini, there were also some very serious accusations levelled at you. However, there is strong evidence that they were done by someone in your house, and only slim evidence to suggest that it was you yourself. So, as punishment for you, I suggest one detention, to be served within the week, and a deduction of thirty points from your house. Does this seem fair to everyone?"

"Yes," chirped Lily and the Marauders. Zabini crossed his arms and stubbornly refused to make eye contact with the headmaster, looking instead at the corner of his office, not unlike a petulant child.

"Is this agreeable to you, Mr. Zabini?" Dumbledore asked again.

"No, of course it's not. I didn't do anything." Zabini was still turning his head and Lily idly wondered if he was concerned about Legilimency.

"Would you like to prove so with the veritaserum you so kindly suggested we use?" Dumbledore was smiling in an oddly contented way.

"No." Zabini was fisting his hands, and Lily actually found herself more than a little scared at the prospect of repeating last week's events.

"Well alright then!" Dumbledore concluded happily. I'll let Professors McGonagall and Slughorn know about the detentions, and I believe the points have already been removed from Slytherin."

Chairs were pushed back as the students prepared to depart the office, but Lily suddenly had a thought. "Professor," she said tentatively.

"Yes, Miss Evans?"

"Well, it's just… I was wondering, does the school have any sort of double jeopardy policy?"

"What's that?" Sirius asked, looking Lily over sceptically.

"It's a muggle legal policy," Remus explained slowly, giving Lily a very calculated look. "The idea that no one can be tried for the same crime twice." A slow smile was appearing on his face.

"Are you worried about some sort of federal injustice, Miss Evans?" Dumbledore asked, clearly amused.

"Oh, well you know. Zabini has come forward as a witness, and that's fine. But if some more people decide that they saw us too? I just don't want to be punished twice," she said in a bit of a rush. She highly suspected that Dumbledore knew what she was up to.

"Alright, that's fair," the professor told her with a smile. "I am instating a double jeopardy policy for Hogwarts."

"Great," Lily said with a big smile. "So, just to be clear, we've been punished for entering the Slytherin common room last night and wreaking havoc, yes?"

"Absolutely correct," the headmaster agreed.

"And we won't be punished for it again? No further retribution?" She clarified.

"Certainly not," Dumbledore said earnestly. "It would be against school rules." His eyes were twinkling as he gave Lily a knowing smirk.

"Brilliant," Lily declared happily. "Thank you for your time, Professor."

"Oh, it's always a pleasure, Miss Evans," he told her sincerely. "Now, the five of you should be off. I'm sure your first period professors won't mind if you're a little late."

Murmurs of thanks and good-byes were heard all around as the group made their way out of the office. Once in the hallway, Zabini turned to face them.

"Don't think for one minute that two detentions is enough," he said darkly.

"Oh, sorry Zabini?" James asked with a clear undertone of condescension. "You going to try to take matters into your own hands again? That ended really well for you last time."

Lily felt some adrenaline run through her, but noticed, much to her surprise, that she wasn't even scared. There was a significant chance of an imminent altercation, but it would be with James, who she was somehow one hundred percent positive would win. She even noticed that Zabini, who had so intimidated her only a week before, wasn't even as tall as James.

"Oh, wait, that's right," James pressed. "You won't start anything, because there're no giggling fifth years around to impress."

"You're going to insult my girlfriend, Potter? That's rich, you know, coming from you. I had your mudblood eating out of the palm of my hand while you couldn't even be bothered to look for her. I left her for Regulus then, but," he said with a sexual leer at Lily, "I think next time I'll fuck her myself."

No one present would ever get to hear the rest of Zabini's musings, for at that second, James's fist connect hardly with the Slytherin's jaw, both shutting him up and sending him several paces backward. Zabini, clearly embarrassed, took the opportunity to start venturing back to the dungeons and threw only one scathing remark over his shoulder: "Watch your back Potter; next time you won't have all that fancy backup."

The group was silent for a few moments, likely in a bout of deep thought. "Anyone want to go to the kitchens?" Remus asked, effectively breaking it.

"Remus," Lily chastised.

"What? I'm hungry," he defended, and it was followed with two bouts of "Mmm-hmm."

Lily looked from one boy to the next, shocked by their nonchalance. "Aren't any of you worried about that?" she questioned. "He threatened you," she said, zeroing in on James.

James gave her a cavalier shrug. "I'm not too concerned," he admitted bluntly. When Lily gave no comment, he followed it up with, "but I would like some food."

"Alright," Lily conceded reluctantly, starting to walk toward the kitchens.

After they had rounded the corner, Sirius asked, "So Lily, are you going to tell us what the deal was with the whole 'double jeopardy' thing?"

"You didn't figure it out, Padfoot?" Remus inquired with a shake of his head.

"No," Sirius replied defiantly. "But maybe I wouldn't have had to if flower hadn't felt like being so intentionally vague."

"I can't believe you didn't figure it out," Remus said in disbelief. The corners of his mouth were turning up.

"It _was _pretty brilliant," James agreed with something that could only be described as a proud smile directed at Lily.

"Thanks," Lily said happily.

"What was it?" Sirius questioned again, clearly vexed that everyone else understood.

"It's nothing, really," Lily said modestly.

"Not it's not," James and Remus objected in unison.

"Well, it's just, we each got two detentions. Which wasn't very much. But they were really only punishment for flooding the common room."

"Yeah?"

"Well, we were really punished for flooding the common room, but we were officially punished merely for being there and wreaking havoc in general."

"Alright…" Sirius said slowly. When no one supplied any additional information, he had to fish for some. "So what does that mean for us?"

"It means," Lily started slyly, "that when the Slytherins complain about their common room turning red and gold or the statues insulting them all day long, the teachers can't do anything, because we've already been punished."

Sirius stopped walking to place his hands on her shoulders and look her in the eye. "Lily Evans, you are a genius."

"Don't I know it," she concurred a large sense of achievement and acceptance.

As she and the Marauders slowly made their way to the kitchen, not at all perturbed about missing their first class of the morning, they eventually started to walk in pairs, rather than a large clump, with Remus and Sirius in front, and James and Lily trailing behind. "I'm sorry about your hand," Lily said carefully. She had debated thanking him for standing up for her, but felt that it was too intimate a sentiment.

"What? Oh," James said, holding up his right hand and examining it. His knuckles were raw and red. "It's not that bad," he told her casually, slowly making a fist and releasing it.

"Really? It looks pretty painful."

"Well, some people might find it painful. But those are the lesser and the weak. Now, someone as tough and manly as myself? I Barely feel it." He brushed off his nonexistent lapel with his other hand, and Lily couldn't help but give a short giggle.

"Come on, give me your hand," Lily said, rolling her eyes. She grabbed his right hand in her left as she pulled out her wand. "Episky," she said softly, watching as the redness and swelling disappeared and cuts closed.

"Thank you," he said fervently, making a fist once more. "Healing charms a hobby of yours?"

"Any charm's a hobby of mine," she replied with a laugh. "Right wand, right disposition… but yeah, I used to really want to be a healer."

"Used to?" James asked lightly.

"Well, yeah. And in a perfect world, I guess I still do. It's just…" she paused, trying to think of how to finish her thought. "You want to be a healer because you want to help people. But in the middle of a war, you've got to wonder if that's really the best way you can help people."

"Lily," James said with a frustrated hand to his hair. He opened his mouth a few times, only to close it immediately. "Charms aren't easy," he finally told her. "You think they're easy because you're really good at them, but they're not. Just in the same way that even though I find Transfiguration easy, I know that that's not the ubiquitous case." He gave her a very serious look. "I barely scraped an E in Charms on my OWLs, and I'm not alone. It's hard, intricate spellwork, and it doesn't come easily to most of us."

"Alright, fine," she granted him. She hated feeling like she was seconds from blushing.

"And being a healer isn't easy," he pressed. "Tons of people want to be a healer, but they can't all do it. Or sometimes they do become a healer, but they're simply lacklustre."

"Your point being?" she asked a little bashfully.

"There are wizards that will be off fighting the war. They're going to get injured, and they're going to need healers. Do you want the soldiers to get lacklustre healers that barely scraped Es?" Lily chuckled at his phrasing. "Alright, I know I'm being funny, but I'm also being serious. Healers _are _important. Especially in a time of war. And just because you're a healer in a hospital doesn't mean that you can't be a healer for the order. It's tough, important work."

"Yeah, yeah, alright." Lily wanted the conversation to end.

"Don't 'yeah, yeah, alright' me," James scolded, turning to face her. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yes, I do," she admitted quietly. She felt sufficiently shamed.

"S'all I wanted," he informed her contentedly. They could now see the portrait marking the entrance to the kitchens ahead. "Thanks again for the hand," he said conversationally.

"Oh, don't mention it," she told him, happy for the subject change.

"No, I will mention it!" he proclaimed. "Because it's good as new! Look!" With that, he clasped Lily's hand in his own and gave it a tight squeeze, as if to prove its functionality.

Lily felt entirely ambivalent about the hand-holding, finding that it felt comforting and blush-inducing, but also not wanting to send mixed signals by allowing something too intimate. At the same time, she didn't want to hurt James's feelings now that they were finally getting along. She was incredibly grateful that the decision was made for her when they reached the kitchens and James dropped her hand to climb in.


End file.
